Christmas Eve at the Fritz Benedict Hut

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For Christmas this year Anna-Lisa and I decided to change things up by heading over to Aspen and skinning into the Benedict Huts on Christmas Eve. Cozied up in a backcountry hut 6 miles from civilization made for a unique and seemingly appropriate way to spend the holiday. Nestled in the hills southeast of Aspen at 11,000 feet, the Fritz and Fabi Benedict Huts are some of the most recently constructed in the 10th Mountain Division Hut system. Built in 1997, they were named in honor of the late Fritz Benedict and his wife Fabi. Read more…

Organ Mountain: A Bicentennial Finish

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One of my only firm goals for this year was to finally wrap up the Colorado Bicentennial list, that is, the 200 highest peaks in our state. It’s a project I had technically been working on since 2003, dating all the way back to my first summit of Mt. Elbert when I was 18 years old. Well, last month Anna-Lisa and my long-time friend Stu Clark joined me on a gorgeous fall hike up Organ Mountain in the San Juans. And with that summit, I’m finally finished. Keep reading…

Lone Eagle Peak: North Face Climb & Solo Flight Descent

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Josh and I always seem to whip up at least one huge outing every summer season. But when he suggested Lone Eagle Peak for the 2019 version, I didn’t really know much about it. I knew it was a cool looking mountain deep in the heart of the Indian Peaks Wilderness. I knew it wasn’t even a 12er. And I knew that it had a sweet name. But that was about it. As it turns out, I wasn’t exactly wrong about any of those things, I just didn’t have the full appreciation of how great this mountain really is. And so, I agreed to another summer epic, with essentially zero knowledge of what I was getting into. But in retrospect, I’m sure glad I did. Keep Reading….

Gore, HCW and Eagle-Vail Trail Runs

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As the snow falls outside with summer pretty definitively in the rear view, I thought it would be fun to look back on a few of the better trail run adventures Anna-Lisa and I did over the latter part of the season. Amidst trying to wrap up my last few Bicentennial 13ers this fall, we were able to get out and explore several local Gore and Holy Cross Wilderness trails. Keep reading…